film studies at the university of colorado boulder.
Historical and material approaches to the reuse, reformation and reconstitution of existing sources from Cubism to PostModernism. Originality, appropriation, authorship, intellectual property, found footage, home movies, readymades, remixes, copyleft and free culture.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Early Abstractions, Abrasions, and In The Wake

i am enjoying the simplicity and flow of abrasions, and in the wake very much in contrast to harry smith's piece. i think a simple idea can have better luck at being cohesively enjoyable. lots of the early abstract animation films just seem like a showcase of techniques that the artist has learned. in this way they remind me of student work. when i watch an abstract animation such as early abstractions, i just slip into the mode of looking for technique and figuring out, how things were done, and how i could incorporate the better ideas into my own work. the work and my mind become very concerned with surface, and some of what makes many films so powerful is lost. the sound track just furthered my pull to surface only. it seemed as a hook to draw in others that would not usually care to sit through the film. like explosions and sex might do in a hollywood movie.

2 comments:

oops! Sam, you were the first to post and I somehow skipped you (apologies) --but I think those are some very thoughtful comments re: EArly Abstraciton--and I wonder if you watched the (ahem, youtube) Teji Ito version to see if your attention was similarly pulled to the surface? Certainly these were his earliest experiments in film, working with paint and symbols. Hans Richter said ," Problems in modern art lead directly into the film: organization of color, form, dynamics of motion and simultaneity, were some of the problems which Cezanne, the Cubists nd the Futurists were all dealing with ..."